Bomb scare clears Stamford courthouse

Updated 9:17 pm, Monday, April 22, 2013

STAMFORD -- State Superior Court in Stamford was evacuated for the second time in two months after a man called in a bomb threat Monday morning.

The call to the clerk's office was made just before 10 a.m. by a caller; lawyers, defendants and employees were able to return to court after about an hour. Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said the man warned a bomb was set to go off there at about 4 p.m.

The city police Bomb Squad cleared the building in 52 minutes, court staff said.

Sgt. Lou DeRubeis, the squad commander, said the building was secured and deemed safe just after 11 a.m.

DeRubeis said it was determined that despite the unusual threat that a bomb would explode six hours later, the courthouse needed to be evacuated.

"In light of what was going on in response to Boston, that weighed into our assessment to a certain extent. Public safety is always our primary concern, but we have to follow our protocols, regardless of circumstances," DeRubeis said.

The search, which was aided by Riley, a bomb-sniffing dog and two State Police explosives dogs, took considerably less time than on Feb. 28, when the courthouse was also emptied due to a bomb threat.

In that incident, one or two women made two calls to workers in the clerk's office at about 10 a.m. reporting a bomb in the courthouse. Hundreds of court employees, defendants and lawyers were ushered out of the building and were not allowed to return until about 2 p.m.

DeRubeis said state police Monday were able to get two dogs to the courthouse quickly, which saved time and hastened the time it took to determine the building was safe.